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Follow UsThe date was June 16th, 2019. The venue was Manchester. India were playing Pakistan. After attacking every bowler whose name was not Mohammad Amir, Rohit Sharma was 37 off 29 out of India’s score of 51/0 at the end of the powerplay.
Twenty overs and two mammoth partnerships later, Rohit reached 100 off 85 balls. He added a further 36 off 24 balls when, in the 39th over, he failed to notice a fielding change and scooped straight to short fine leg.
Any other batter, after getting done with the milestone and having added a few more runs, would have walked off happily, inhaling the ovation that followed. But not Rohit. He was as livid as a child whose favourite toy had been gifted to the guests by his parents.
“I wasn't thinking about the double hundred… we wanted to kill the game there with our [with Kohli] partnership,” said Rohit after the match. Wanted to KILL the game. That one word encapsulates Rohit the cricketer.
On the field, Rohit often embodies someone who would rather be somewhere else. He doesn’t hide his emotions towards a slack batting partner or at a fielder who has dropped a catch or has misfielded, even in a dead game. If it was up to him, he would have had eleven men like him, impatient to kill the game ASAP so that they could be somewhere else.
In this World Cup, Rohit has married his impatience with the needs of his team. Though this star-studded Indian team is filled with all-format batters, most of them are the most at ease during a 50-over game, where there are enough gaps in the field to rotate strike, enough overs from non-frontline bowlers to milk, and no urgency of taking risks.
Rohit is fifth on the run-scoring chart with 550 runs at an average of 55 and a strike rate of 124.2. He has scored 101 runs more than any other batter in the powerplay (overs 1-10). These have come at a strike rate of 133.1.
Nobody has hit more boundaries than Rohit - the second-most number of fours (62) and the most sixes (28). He has scored 104 runs off 48 back of length or short balls against pace, virtually killing any scope of a Plan B for the opposition. Rohit has been all the world's greatest hitters and the best accumulators rolled into one. Sehwag-like fearlessness with Sachin-like consistency.
Also Read: Rohit Sharma, a six-hitting outlier with effortless energy
Logically, one cannot win the game in the powerplay but can certainly lose it. Every pull, every drive, every cut, and every hoick from Rohit’s bat has been his stamp of disapproval of this logic.
One of the most disheartening images from the 2019 World Cup was of a solemn Rohit leaning against the glass window, resting his head on his forearms while India were about to be knocked out by New Zealand in the semi-finals at the same venue he wanted to “kill the game” against Pakistan.
Four years later, against the same opposition at the same stage of the competition, Rohit’s onslaught from the first over put India at 84/1 in the powerplay. Even with them scoring at a run-a-ball on the road of a wicket in the next 20 overs, India could pile up the total that proved to be a “bridge too far” despite the bravest of fights put up by the Kiwis.
This Indian lineup is filled with one watchable batter after another. But you can feel the adrenaline drain out of your body when Rohit gets out. While he is batting, most pitches have seemed like a 400-run wicket. It is only when he gets out that a realistic assessment has been possible.
Despite being the Indian captain, Rohit is not the poster boy of Indian cricket. If this World Cup were a movie, Rohit would not be the actor you bought the ticket for. But he has been the one for whom there is a message at the bottom of the poster: “Do not miss the beginning”. And once his role is done, you wish that he had a few more scenes.
Rohit’s powerplay heroics do not paint a complete picture. He has been far from being a one-trick pony. His best knock in the tournament has been the one against England when, after having his side three down for 40, he respected the conditions, dug in deep, and ensured his team reached a par total. He unleashed Rohit the Test batter 2.0 who, on rank-turners in Chennai and Nagpur, displayed the skills that made it seem like he was batting on a different wicket than all others.
Since becoming the captain, Rohit has often expressed his irritation at the milestone mindset. May it be from the fans wanting the next hundred or his bowlers asking for more overs to get to a five-wicket haul. In this World Cup, the milestones by batters after him are the fruits of the seeds sown by their captain up top who is disinterested in personal statistics. Rohit has been like the patriarch of a traditional family who does a tough, thankless job selflessly to ensure everyone around him leads a comfortable life.
Rohit has led by doing everything that his team needed. It is surreal that he has abided by the principle that the man coaching this team sworn by. In this team of superheroes, Rohit has been the dark knight with a little twist. He is not only the hero that Indians deserve, but he is also the one they need right now, for one final time.
